


Hollow Bones

by spicedcryptid



Series: spicedcryptid's WIP Harry Potter fics [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Child Abuse, Child Harry Potter, Child Hermione Granger, Child Murder, Crossover, Harry Potter Has Wings, Harry Potter Has a Different Name, Hermione names Harry, One Shot Collection, Regeneration (Doctor Who), Temporary Character Death, Time Lord Harry Potter, Time Tots | Babies (Doctor Who), it's mentioned that time lords can regenerate into anything so
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26844319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicedcryptid/pseuds/spicedcryptid
Summary: At the ripe old age of five, Vernon decides it's high time to be rid of 'The Freak'.Of course, this causes some... interesting issues.
Series: spicedcryptid's WIP Harry Potter fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021498
Comments: 1
Kudos: 52





	1. The Freedom of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freak didn't understand why his family didn't like him, nor did he understand what 'kill' meant, well at least until he did.
> 
> Then he awoke three days later in the middle of an unknown forest, his clothes bloodied, with a rather startling new face and appendages.

Freak didn’t understand why his family didn’t like him, he tried his very hardest to finish his chores in a decent time to their standards, which, for a five-year-old like himself was rather impressive, not that he knew that. He weeded and watered the garden, cleaned, dusted, and hoovered the house, did the laundry, and cooked their dinner too, but no matter what he did, it never seemed to be good enough.

His cousin Dudley on the other hand, sat around doing nothing but eating snacks and watching the television and would often make extra messes on purpose just so that Freak would have more work to do.

His aunt Petunia would often smack the back of his head if she deemed his work as unacceptable, or if he was being too slow, or if he was in the way while doing his chores, or even if she just felt like it, she would often bring up his dead mother and father and how he was no good, just like them, and occasionally how even they would be ashamed of his laziness.

Freak didn’t think he was lazy, he did, however, think that Dudley was lazy, but he wouldn’t ever say that aloud.

But his uncle Vernon was the worst.

If he was too slow to get out of his cupboard in the morning, hadn’t finished his chores by the time he was back home from work or even still outside of his cupboard at said time, if Dudley complained about Freak to him, or even if he’d just had a bad day, Freak got beat, sometimes it was with his hands, sometimes it was with his belt.

Freak had never gone a day without a beating, considering that one or more of these things happened each day.

But that night, something was different.

Uncle Vernon had come home, the door shutting behind him with a soft click instead of the usual loud bang, he’d walked past his cupboard, where he was shut in for the night, his footsteps far quieter than usual, he wasn’t yelling for Petunia or asking Dudley about his day, no, he was almost silent.

And that frightened Freak.

He remained as still as he possibly could as his uncle walked into the kitchen, remained silent as he sent Dudley into the lounge so that he could talk to Aunt Petunia in private.

Many minutes passed until finally, his door was swung open.

“Follow me boy and don’t make a sound.” his uncle spat out.

And Freak could only follow in terrified silence.

He followed his uncle as he grabbed a sharp kitchen knife, followed as his uncle walked out to the car that was parked on the roadside, stood to the side as he opened the door to the back seats of the car.

“Get in,” he grunted.

He climbed up into the seat, quickly tugging the seatbelt around himself, his uncle got in the driver’s seat and placed the knife on the front passenger seat in Freak’s direct view.

Freak kept his eye on the knife as his uncle started the car and drove off, the metal glinted as the harsh light of the streetlamps hit it.

“I am going to kill you.” his uncle started after a good ten minutes of driving.

Freak turned his head to look at his uncle’s reflection in the rear-view mirror, where he was staring at him with a dark intensity.

“I am going to kill you, and leave the body where no-one will find it, and no-one will care!”

Freak didn’t know what ‘kill’ meant, but he knew it couldn’t be anything good.

“Do you understand, boy?” he yelled out.

“Yes, Uncle Vernon.” but he did not.

“Good.”

They remained in silence after that.

The journey lasted half an hour longer, and his uncle had even driven off the main road, heading as far into the forest as accessible by car.

“Out.”

Freak unbuckled himself from the seat, opened the door and slid out, his uncle slammed it after him and gestured for him to follow, knife in hand. They walked for a following twenty minutes, as far into the forest as his uncle would go, and Freak found himself rather tired.

And then they stopped, Freak watched as his uncle looked around, seemingly nervous, and after confirming that they were indeed alone, he pushed Freak up against one of the tall pine trees and bought the knife down upon him.

Freak screamed and fell to the ground, hands clutching at his chest where the knife had impaled him.

“Good riddance!” Uncle Vernon exclaimed, kicking at his ribs as he curled in on himself.

Tears pooled in his eyes as he watched his uncle turn around and walk away, back to the car and back to his house. And then he was alone, blood puddling under him, and as his teary eyes grew heavy, Freak could have sworn that his body felt like it was burning.

His eyes slipped shut as unconsciousness gripped him, as such he didn’t notice when a dark smoke left his scar, screaming in pain, nor did he notice when the forest was coated in golden light.

A day passed and a deer was scared off by the feeling of something greater than itself residing in the area, two days passed, and a fox fled mid-hunt as its prey crossed into a strange feeling clearing.

On the third day, Freak woke up.

He groaned as he awoke, sitting up as carefully as he could, it felt as though he’d fallen asleep on his arms but wrong, he slowly lifted his arms above his head, stretching them as much as he could and froze.

Two arms stretched in front of him, and two other things stretched behind him, slowly, Freak looked behind himself and gaped, two black wings, fluffy with their thick down feathers greeted him.

He leant on his right hand, reaching out with his left to poke it.

They were real, Freak had wings!

He slowly tried moving them, quickly figuring out its movement capabilities, he spread them as wide as he could, they weren’t big, what with them not being fully developed, and when he spread his arms out wide, they reached to the ends of his fingers, he wouldn’t be flying anytime soon.

Once he’d figured out how to fold them against his back, he’d noticed that the clothes he was wearing were smaller than he was used to them being, although they were still much larger than he was, as they were passed to him from his cousin once he’d outgrown them.

The top was completely destroyed, also, the back torn open where his wings had sprouted, and the front covered in his blood from where his uncle had stabbed him, he frowned and took it off, not wishing to be wearing bloody clothes, Freak folded the cloth, slipping it in one of the front pockets of his trousers, just in case he needed it later.

He then stood slowly, using the tree to support himself as he stood, and looked around, quickly figuring out which direction he’d come from when his uncle had bought him here and walking off in the opposite direction.

He walked slowly, as he got his bearings together, he was somehow taller than he had been previously and as such kept tripping over himself, he was also somehow lighter than he’d been previously, not no mention his new wings kept getting caught in the branches.

And then, once the sun had reached its peak, Freak came upon a park, one of the ones that had a lake that you could walk around and feed ducks in, with large grassy fields and playgrounds and lots of screaming children.

Freak kept to the trees and carefully made his way to the edge of the lake, keeping out of sight of anyone who was around, he peered down into the water, hoping to inspect his new appendages and froze in surprise for the second time since he’d awoken that day.

A different face to the one he was used to stared back at him.

His hair had been short and messy, a dark brown that could be mistaken for black.

It now reached his shoulders in little tame curls, it’s colour a deep black, and where the light hit it just right, it shone blue, much like a raven’s feathers, he noted that his wings were the same colour.

His eyes had previously been a bright emerald, like his mother’s, aunt Petunia had reluctantly told him, and now they were a vibrant violet, almost sparkling in the soft light.

A stranger stared back at him, and Freak was free.


	2. Ornithology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freak makes friends with a girl in the park, but apparently 'Freak' isn't a name.

It had been a week since Freak had woken up in his new body and had ended up in the park, he’d been living in the trees and eating food from the picnics of strangers, taking small bits here and there when their backs were turned, there were public toilets that were open all day and night because the locks were broken and the council couldn’t be bothered to replace them, Freak took advantage of this during the night to use the toilet and clean himself as best as he could.

Freak also managed to collect a few blankets that families had left behind when they’d gone home and had begun making a little nest for himself in his favourite tree, a tall and very sturdy oak tree, he’d tied blankets together with some of the thicker branches, making a makeshift hammock, it might not have been the safest but he was comfy, and if it fell apart, he could always glide down to the floor, he’d found out, mostly by accident, that his wings were strong enough for that, at least.

Freak had also managed to get a new top, which he’d found in the lost and found bin in the small information centre one night after the staff member on duty that day had forgotten to lock the door behind her. He’d managed to find a pair of scissors and some sewing materials in the same office area and had carefully cut some holes in the back of the top for his wings and had sewn around it, making a new seam, so that the fabric wouldn’t unravel as he was using it.

It had taken a bit of effort to get his wings through the holes, but it fit and didn’t hurt him, so it was worth the effort in the end.

He’d also learnt in this week, that everyone tended to avoid the forest that surrounded the park, not wishing to get lost in its depths.

‘Well.’ Freak mused, peering down over the branches that held his makeshift nest. ‘Almost everyone.’

A girl sat at the base of the tree, reading a thick book, which Freak could just make out as an encyclopaedia of birds, she appeared to be looking at the different types that were found out on the lake and just inside the forest.

Freak tilted his head slightly and frowned, looking out over to the playground and field, looking for any sign of a panicking parent, when he didn’t find one, he decided to confront the girl.

“Hey!” he called down to her.

The girl jumped in surprise and looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, Freak rolled his eyes a bit, then called out once again.

“Up here!”

The girl slowly turned her head to look up at him, her face set in a disapproving look, which quickly melted away into shock at the sight of him, the girl began gaping at him and Freak fought the urge to run and hide from her look.

“Er… you know you shouldn’t be out here, right?” he asked, trying to get her to stop looking at him like that.

The girl blinked, and slowly shut her mouth as the question registered in her mind, and then she began talking.

“It’s alright, I live in one of the houses nearby, this is basically my back garden!” she stated. “Are those real?”

“Are what real?”

“Your wings!”

“Oh… uh…” Freak grabbed at his wing, a nervous habit he’d acquired with his newer body, apparently. “Yes.”

“That is so cool!” she cried out. “My name’s Hermione, what’s yours?”

Freak blinked down at her in surprise, no-one had ever asked for his name before.

“Freak.”

The girl, Hermione, stared up at him, her face showing her open horror at his name, he frowned as she began to splutter indignantly.

“That’s not a name!”

“It’s… not?”

“No! It’s an insult!” she cried out.

He had… never really considered that Freak might not be his actual name, if he were honest with himself, which he tried to be as much as he could, why would he have any reason to suspect that the name his relatives had called him for his entire life was not his name?

“I guess that I don’t have one then.” he admitted.

Hermione looked very upset at this.

“Then I’ll just have to give you one!” she declared while opening her book of birds and flipping through it. “Since you have wings, it’s only fitting that you have a bird as your name.”

He nodded; it made some sense.

“How about… Starling?”

“No.”

She nodded as though expecting his response. “Jay?”

“No.”

“Falcon?”

He shook his head.

“Hm…” she ran her finger down a page. “Dove?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Um… Owl?”

“Nope.”

“How about…” she flicked through a few more pages. “Oh! How about Raven?”

He paused for a moment, looking back at his wings, and remembering his thoughts on his hair and feather colour a week prior, the name did fit.

He nodded.

“Great!” she beamed. “It’s nice to meet you, Raven!”

She held out her hand and Fre-Raven, slipped down from the tree, spreading his wings to soften the landing as he landed on the ground, he walked over to her and took her hand gently, as though afraid that he’d cause her harm by touch alone.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Hermione.” he spoke, his voice soft.

Her eyes were wide as she took in his appearance, he was just a bit shorter than she was, he had a slightly feminine look about him, yet remained so obviously male, and he was pretty too, with his soft curls and violet eyes, and yet, even with all these foreign, yet familiar features, the one thing that would always grab her attention about him was the fluffy baby wings on his back.

“May I touch them?” she asked once he’d let her hand go.

“Touch what?”

“Your wings.”

Raven looked at her warily for a moment, before slowly extending one out to her.

“Please be careful, they’re very sensitive.”

She nodded, slowly reaching out to touch it with her hand, she gasped when her hand made contact with the feathers, gently running her hand along it, careful to make sure she didn’t catch any of the feathers between her fingers where she could pull on them by accident and cause her new, hopefully, friend, any pain.

“They’re so soft!” she gushed.

Raven blushed and looked away as she continued to run her fingers along his wing, it felt nice.

After a few moments, he felt her remove her hand from his wing and tucked it back in, he looked over at her, only to see her looking at him in curiosity.

“Do you have something to protect your eyes?” she asked.

Raven blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, when birds are flying, the wind hits their face, so they have a third eyelid to help remove debris and keep their eyes moist.”

He stared at her for a moment, then tilted his head in thought.

“I don’t know, but if I don’t, I might get one when I’m older?” he spoke hesitantly. “Because my wings aren’t fully developed yet, so I wouldn’t have use of it currently?”

Honestly, Raven would prefer if he didn’t, he’d rather buy a nice pair of goggles or something to protect his eyes instead, because goggles at least looked cool.

She nodded and gestured to the ground next to where she was sat.

“Want to read my book with me? You might learn something about yourself.” she offered.

Raven smiled slightly and sat next to her, looking at the birds she pointed out and listening as she talked about each bird and the different ways they lived, their differing diets and their habitats, he listened as she talked about the differing types of birds she’d seen around the park and at her school.

Raven listened as she talked until she had to go home for the night.

The next day she returned with a different book and some sandwiches for them to share, and each day after she returned with more books and each day he continued to listen to her talk.

Raven had a friend, a name, and a home, and for now, he was content.


End file.
